In John 14, we catch a glimpse of what the disciples were experiencing as they began to realize that Jesus would not be with them much longer.
Jesus spoke about heaven and gave His followers four truths to trust in…
• His peace
• His place
• His promise
• His plan
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
1. Peace (1)
The first thing Jesus asks us to trust in His peace. These last days have been very difficult for each of you as you knew Ed’s departure was imminent.
The disciples felt all those things as well. Their week had begun gloriously with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem with people waving palm branches and now they’ve begun to realize that Jesus won’t be with them much longer.
The disciples were upset and so Jesus looked at them with tenderness and said in verse 1: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” The tense here means to “stop letting your hearts be troubled,” indicating that they were falling apart. The word “your” is plural as Jesus moves from talking to Peter to the entire team. “Troubled” literally means, “to be stirred up.”
In the second half of verse 1, Jesus makes another claim to deity: “Believe in God; believe also in me.” He’s saying something like this: “You trust in God who is invisible and that’s great; now it’s time to trust in me, even though I will be leaving you for a while.” The only way to have peace in the midst of troubled times is to trust in Christ.
Later in this same chapter, in verse 27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”
If you feel like crying today, let it out. When a friend of Jesus died, John 11:35 says that Jesus broke down and wept. If Jesus cried, then so can you. Invite him into your pain. He never promises to keep us from tough times, but He does promise to give us His peace in the midst of difficulty and trouble.
The first thing Jesus tells us is to trust in Him. When we do, He will give us His peace. Next, He tells us to focus on another place.
2. Place (2, 3a). “In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
For those who know Jesus, death is not an eerie journey to an unknown destination. Believers are assured that there is a place where all wrongs will be made right, where all imbalances will be straightened out.
The Greek word for “rooms” means to “abide” or “remain,” and refers to something that is not temporary, but permanent. Friends, our place here won’t last but we’re headed to a place that is everlasting.
When Jesus said there are many rooms in His Father’s house, and He’s going there to prepare a place for them, He’s drawing on a very familiar image. In those days it was customary for travelers to send someone ahead to find lodging and make arrangements in a distant city. You couldn’t use Siri or Google maps.
Friends, Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us in heaven. All the arrangements have been made for those who have put their full faith and trust in Him.
It’s interesting isn’t it, that Jesus has prepared a room for us even though there was no room for Him when He was born? Despite the fact that we kicked Jesus out of our world, Jesus invites us into His. Jesus said that there is a place for those who believe in Him. In fact, he left the disciples in order to get some rooms ready for them.
We’re all searching for home. Part of our problem is that most of us are too tied to this place. We often think that this is the land of the living, and that when we die, we go to the land of the dead.
The opposite is really true – this is the land of the dying, when our life here is over, we are transferred to the place of the living – either to a place of eternal joy or to a place of terrible torment. There are really only two possible destinations.
We’re called to trust his peace and to recognize that He’s preparing a place. The third thing we’re to do is to trust the promise of Jesus.
3. Promise (3b)
Jesus gives a promise to his frantic followers in verse 3, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus is saying, “I’m not just going to show you the way to the place I’ve prepared, or just give you a map. I promise to come back and take you to that place so that we can be together forever. Then you’ll finally be home.”
Jesus reinforces this promise in John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Some additional cultural context is helpful here. When a son wanted to get married, he and his father would add a room on to the Father’s house. When the addition was finished, the son would go and get his bride for the wedding and then they would move into the room prepared for them. Likewise, Jesus is preparing a room for His bride, the church, right now. When the time is right, He will gather us and bring us to the Father’s house.
Have you ever wondered what heaven will be like? Here are some promises…
• Heaven will be ready
• Heaven will be resplendent
• Heaven will be restoration
• Heaven will be real
• Heaven will be reunion with Christ and with Christ followers
• Heaven will be right
Jesus guarantees that if we put our full confidence in Him, we’ll be with Him forever. It’s his promise. The Bible is full of the promises of God and not one of them has ever been broken. Psalm 145:13: “The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”
Friends, let’s trust His peace, let’s focus on the right place, let’s claim His promises and finally, let’s commit to follow His plan.
4. Plan (4-6)
Shortly after we moved here, my daughter Megan and I went for a drive. We had no plan but just got in the car and drove east. As we meandered down roads we stopped at various destinations – one place was shady (a Pawn Shop), one was boring (a museum) another place was fun (an apple orchard) and one was a blast (we both got Autumn Chippers at Whitey’s). But since we didn’t have a plan, we really weren’t sure of our destination.
Friends, it’s so easy in life to just start driving without any sense of where we’re headed. Without a plan we move from shady to boring to fun to exciting. Some of our experiences are exciting and others are excruciating. But we’re not really going anywhere.
Listen. If you’re going to take a trip, you better have a plan…a sense of where you’re going.
One of the disciples named Thomas spoke up for the rest of the timid team. They just didn’t get it. What in the world was Jesus talking about? “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
In verse 6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…’” Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. There is no other plan but the person of Jesus. There is no way to get to heaven unless we go through Him. Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus made it clear that the way is narrow and restrictive: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Jesus is very inclusive in the sense that everyone is invited to a relationship with Him as John 6:37 states: “…and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” But, His claims are extremely exclusive in that there is no other way to Heaven except through Him.
In John 3:3, Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Just as we’re all born once physically, so too, we must have a spiritual birth if we hope to go to heaven.
It’s time to come to Christ. There’s only one condition for entrance into heaven -- it’s not a matter of trying to pay the price by being good or offering a bid by going to church -- the only requirement is that you personally believe that Jesus paid the price by absorbing your sins on a cross and that He rose again so that at the moment of your death you will rise too.
• Believe that Jesus is the way and then give way to His way in your life
• Believe that Jesus is the truth and live by His truth in your life
• Believe that He is life and then receive the One who alone can give you eternal life.
Allow Jesus to give you His peace, hold on to His promises, focus on another place, and commit to follow His plan.
Heaven is a prepared place of peace
Promised to prepared people
Who partake of His plan
Are you ready to die? James 4:14 says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Proverbs 27:1 reminds us to “not boast about tomorrow because we don’t know what a day will bring forth.”
Life is too unpredictable and too brief to live it without God at the center. We count our lives in years, but God tells us in Psalm 90:12 to number our days. The truth of the matter is that every one of us is just one heartbeat away from eternity. A sickness, a stroke, a heart attack, an accident, a mass shooting, or even a terrorist attack, could snuff out our lives in an instant.
In 1 Samuel 20:3, David said, “Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” Don’t put off a decision to follow Christ. Decide today to give your life to Jesus.
It’s time to repent and receive Christ so you can be redeemed.
